Silver's Mother
by Yanagi of the Wind
Summary: Silver never knew who his mother was, only that she was the lover of his father. Gold has an idea who she might be, though she'll need convincing, and Lyra is happy to help. One-shot.


**A/N: This is mostly gameverse, but I prefer Silver to have silver eyes instead of red, and Gold to have golden eyes instead of blue. It's HG/SS, so there's Lyra instead of Kris.**

* * *

"What?" Silver turned to look from the paperback novel to Gold, frowning (like usual). "What are you talking about?"

Gold, who was currently laying himself across the entire space of the sitting room sofa, rephrased his sentence: "Did you ever consider that the redheaded lady who worked as Team Rocket executive might be the mommy dearest you've been searching for?"

Silver crossed his arms at Gold's highly sarcastic tone and told him curtly, "I don't know of any redheaded woman who worked for Team Rocket. I didn't meet any Rocket executives, either." The brunet sat up straight so quickly Silver almost dropped his book. Gold look doubtful.

"You're the boss' son and you didn't once think that maybe one of the higher ups in his _own organization_ might be your other parent?"

Silver stared for a millisecond, feeling completely and entirely stupid- he had _never_ thought of that, not once, and now his senseless rival-turned-friend was pointing out what he had missed.

Seeing that Silver probably wasn't going to respond, Gold continued, "I mean, you don't really look that much like Giovanni. You're too girly-"

"I'm _not_ girly, Gold!"

"Yeah, whatever helps you sleep at night. Anyway, you're too girly compared to Giovanni, and no one would be able to tell by looking at the two of you that you're father and son 'cept by the smirk on your faces. Or how you scowl; it's all relevant."

"And how would you compare _me_ and this Ariana woman," Silver challenged skeptically, "_other_ than by red hair?"

"Well, it's the exact _shade_ of red," Gold started. "Seriously, it looks dyed, I've got no idea how that's even natural. Next to that, you've kinda got the same skin tone. And you've both got similar postures..." After that, he trailed off; to Silver, it looked like he might list more reasons why Ariana might be his parent. His _mother_.

The younger boy shook his head, because though he agreed that they sounded somewhat similar, he didn't want to believe that _both_ his parents were members of Team Rocket. It was painful enough that his father founded and lead the gang that caused so much trouble and multiple deaths throughout two entire regions. He'd really hoped that his mother would be- or had been- a good woman who loved him, but anyone who was in Team Rocket wouldn't be a good person, much less a person capable of love. "I doubt we're related. So what if we have the same hair color? You're probably just seeing things."

Gold opened his mouth to argue- to _insist_ that Silver's mother was a gang member- a _Team Rocket_ member- but Silver's pokégear rang, so the redhead held up a finger in the way that meant, 'shut up for a minute, or I'll have to hit you.' It was a special way, used only for Gold. Gold frowned halfheartedly.

"What is it?" Silver's tone into the phone was clipped, even for his usual greeting.

From the other end, the brunette exclaimed enthusiastically, "_Hey, Silver_! Is Gold with you?"

Silver scowled at Lyra's excited tone, but he wasn't completely upset to have her call him. He responded sarcastically, "No, the annoying _child_-" (Gold whined loudly in the background) "-that's been following me around all week is most certainly not with me."

Lyra was silent for a minute before saying tonelessly, "But didn't Gold just say something back there?"

Silver put a hand to his forehead, groaning, "_What did you want with him_?"

"Oh! Well, he's not answering his pokégear and I really really need to ask him something so I figured he'd either be training again or with you or both so I just called you. Can I talk to him?"

Silver put a hand over the receiver and threw a look at Gold. "Turn on your stupid phone." Gold nodded quickly and clicked on his pokegear, having forgotten it was off. The redhead then told Lyra, "Try and call him now."

A few seconds later, Gold's pok_é_gear rang, and he hopped off the couch and wandered into another room to talk. Sighing, Silver shook his head and returned to his book.

When Gold came back from the room he'd been in, he had a shifty-looking smile on his face that could only spell trouble. Silver lowered one eyebrow and asked, "What's that grin for?"

His friend only shook his head. "You'll see, Silvy~"

The annoying nickname distracted him from the previous topic- "I told you before not to call me that!" Gold only smiled.

**-O-**

Having been a proud and dedicated elite of the disbanded Team Rocket not to long before, the wounds of her multiple defeats were still fresh in Ariana's mind. She was _not_ happy to see the two brats that had put her out of business standing in her way. "I hope you're not coming to me _now_ to ask to join Team Rocket. Even if we were active, we wouldn't accept you after what you did," the woman spoke in a very condescending manner, making it quite obvious she didn't wish to see them.

"Oh, we wouldn't join Team Rocket," Lyra told her, smiling good heartedly.

"Yeah, your caps are too ugly," Gold commented, tipping his own yellow-and-black hat. His 'accomplice' nudged him, hoping he would remember not to be rude. The boy shrugged in response, whispering, "It's only the truth."

"I'm right here and I can hear you even if you whisper." Ariana crossed her arms, scowling at the children.

The brunet smiled sheepishly at her, and Lyra said, "We're sorry we beat you a lot," (at this, Gold nudged her right back) "-but do you think you could come somewhere with us?"

Ariana stole a quick glance down the isles. There weren't many other people at the mart on weekdays, but, being in the bustling Goldenrod city, there was always _someone_ who didn't have to work on a Tuesday. Luckily, the isle they were on was empty and the tired cashier didn't seem to be paying attention, so she lowered her voice a smidge and snapped, "You think a simple apology is going to win me over? I'm having to take every measure not to be arrested!"

The trainers glanced to one another, having known ahead of time that 'sorry' wouldn't be good enough. Neither of them had thought through how to convince her.

She waited and the two said nothing, so she drawled, "If neither of you have anything else to say, I've got things to buy and places to be. Well, I _would_ have places to be if I still had my _job_."

Gold and Lyra both felt slightly discouraged; they had hoped that they would at least be able to ask Ariana if Silver was her child. Then Gold could have hit himself- that was the point of them _coming_! All he had to do was ask if she had a son!

"Ariana! Don't you have a son, though?" Gold jumped to ask her before she had left (which was a bit silly- she wasn't going to just walk out of the store if she still had things to pay for). Ariana didn't stop dead in her tracks like he had hoped, but she did slow down and look back at them. She waved her hand nonchalantly and told him, "I haven't seen my child since he was a baby. He was raised by his father and wouldn't have anything to do with you two."

"But your son's name is Silver, right?" Lyra said it as if it were a statement instead of a question. Gold chimed, "And his father is Giovanni!"

Ariana, with her hair the brash red of her son's and her eyes with the same proud glint, only responded, "I don't need to see him." Gold and Lyra, disheartened, didn't catch the twitching of her lip or the slight sagging of her shoulders, even as her face remained hard.

"U-um, but here's his address, he hasn't moved away from it for a year-" Gold pulled an old pokéball receipt from his pocket, and Lyra handed him a pencil he used to scribble down Silver's home address on. He held it out to her. She stared back blankly.

"I don't need it," She insisted to him, moving away and picking a potion from one of the shelves. To Gold, the shelves started to seem far away, and he let the receipt fall to the floor, forgetting the danger of leaving his closest friend's home address lying in a popular mart.

Lyra took Gold's wrist and began pulling him from the store. With her voice low and heavy, she muttered, "Silver probably wouldn't care, anyway. He's got us to visit him and we visit almost every day." Gold followed her wordlessly, disappointment heavy in his chest. Ariana didn't say a word as she watched them go out into the wintry air.

**-O-**

"_HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SILVER!_" Lyra and Gold say in unison, laughing at Silver's embarrassed blush.

"Can I take the hat off, now?" He still can't help but grin at the two, slightly humiliated or not. They nod and he takes off the multicolored paper hat that they had happily scribbled birthday wishes all over and sits it on the table, planning to take it home later but never tell them.

A full four hours later, Silver is ready to head outside for some fresh night air, and since Gold and Lyra had partied themselves to sleep, he quietly pulls his scarf from the closet and wraps it around his neck. His pokémon rest by the fireplace, and he tells himself that he won't wander far enough that he'll get lost without them.

The redhead opens his front door and steps out into the open hallway of the apartment complex before stumbling over a box on the ground. Surprised, he wonders what it could be, and who it's from- he hadn't ordered anything, so maybe it was sent from one of the Kanto region's group? He doesn't know them so well, but Gold might have spoken to the trainer that lived atop Mount Silver and said something about him...

Silver plods back inside and puts the small, well-wrapped box on the table and unties the yarn it's tied up with. If he hadn't already been surprised, he certainly was when he pulled out a picture of a small child with silvery eyes, bright hair, and a soft-looking black coat many sizes too large. The boy lifts the short note from the box.

_Happy Birthday, Silver!_  
_Love, your Mummy_

"Silver, what's...?" Gold half-asks, half-yawns, one eye still closed.

Quietly, Silver responds in a thick voice, "It's nothing, Gold. Go to sleep." And Gold does.

* * *

**So, basically, Ariana is Silver's mother. She would want to see him, but for various reasons, she chose not to go be with him, but she still wants him to know she cares about him so she put a note and his picture there for him. Silver never learns who his mother is.**


End file.
